


Bad Moon Rising

by eypril



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/F, F/M, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28100343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eypril/pseuds/eypril
Summary: Edward and Alice's relationship is put in jeopardy when a new girl arrives to Forks.
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Bella Swan, Alice Cullen/Edward Cullen, Alice Cullen/Edward Cullen/Bella Swan, Edward Cullen/Bella Swan
Comments: 8
Kudos: 48





	1. Phoenix

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This will be an 8 chapter story about my favorite throuple, Alice, Edward and Bella. I have been obsessed with the idea of the three of them together ever since I read Midnight Sun. An important thing to know about this story is that Jasper is not a part of the family, nor will he show up (he is probably still in the south with Maria, and has never met Alice). It has been interesting toying with these characters and how they would turn out during different circumstances, as well as why they make the choices they make. I have also put my own twist on Bella, in an attempt to make her more of her own character. The story will sometimes switch point of views between chapters, mainly focusing on Edward and Bella. 
> 
> There is a playlist that goes along with this fanfiction, and it can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5RxKTUKeCUX9VNGgcrtenf?si=iLQKhXAxQQ2Qyq32BpiYyQ

**Phoenix: Bella**

My cluttered room had been difficult to pack up into boxes. It had always been an unorganized mess, and I had been unable to throw anything out. Instead, I had packed all my childhood toys and tween pieces of clothing into the cardboard boxes Renée had gotten for me. Most of my belongings would stay in Phoenix, moving into storage. Renée didn’t want to pay for the expense of moving all the boxes. She said Charlie didn’t have space for it anyway. 

The most important things I’d packed in a suitcase. It was a brand new suitcase, in shiny, purple plastic. I had packed my flannel shirts and worn jeans. Then the highlights of my book collection, which were all my favorite classics in flimsy paperback. Lastly, I had folded the big, green knitted sweater that I had bought in a second hand store the previous day. Forks was cold and my wardrobe was not prepared for it. 

I brought a backpack out of the closet before I walked over to the bookshelf. I owned a lot of books, and most of them would be put into storage along with everything else. I had collected books all my life. The bookshelf contained everything from children's books to young adult novels to the empty space where I’d previously stored my classics. I let my finger run over the backs of the books, looking for a more recent addition. My finger found the right book and pulled it out. The cover was white with a bubbly, purple font. _Love Your Enemy? The debate between heterosexual feminsim and political feminism._ It wasn’t really a book, more of a worn, well-read pamphlet. I carefully placed it on the keyboard of my laptop and folded the screen down, before placing the laptop in the backpack. 

I studied my belongings. My life was easily downsized to a medium sized suitcase and a backpack. The only thing I had left to pack was my Margie Adam collection CD, the only CD I really listened to. The disc was still spinning inside the CD player. 

The door burst open. 

“How’s it going?” Renée asked as she stomped into the room. 

“Good,” I mumbled and zipped my backpack. 

My mother wandered through the room, looking through the things packed up into the cardboard boxes. She picked up a stuffed bunny. 

“What about Bunbun?” she said and frowned dramatically. 

Renée placed the toy on my bed and kept moving. She turned off the CD player on her way to the window. Margie Adam’s voice stopped mid-sentence. Renée’s eyes wandered over the backyard. The green grass and the red sand popped in contrast to each other. 

“This would make a great studio if Jacksonville doesn’t work out,” she said and turned to me, waiting for my approval. 

“Yeah,” I said and looked down at my open suitcase. 

“Do you need help zipping that?” she asked. 

“It’s okay,” I said. 

“You know, when I traveled in Europe before I met Charlie, I bought so many souvenirs I was barely able to close my suitcase,” she told me. “When I sat on the airplane, I looked out the window and there it was! Open on the ground!” 

She laughed at her own anecdote before checking the watch on her wrist.

“I’ll give you some time to pack up the rest. We’ve got to leave for the airport in a few hours.” 

She closed the door behind her on the way out. I walked over to the CD player and turned on the music again. I sat down on the office chair by my desk with Bunbun in my arms and rolled over to the window, pressing my forehead against the glass. Margie Adam sang beautiful tunes to me as I stared at the backyard. I would miss the red sand. I would miss the bright sun and its warmth against my skin. 

I would miss my mother. 

It had always been my job to take care of her. I had cooked dinner and written grocery lists and opened the bills when she stacked them in piles. Now she had Phil and she didn’t need me anymore. He had been offered a more permanent position in Florida and of course she wanted to go with him. She had been moping around for weeks, and finally I had offered to stay with my father for the last two years of high school so that she could go with him. 

I closed my eyes, but a tear escaped and got caught in my eyelash. I brushed it away with the back of my hand. 

“She deserves to be happy,” I whispered to myself and hugged Bunbun harder. “Forks will be just fine.”


	2. Heart and soul

** Heart and soul: Edward **

“ _Now I see what one embrace can do_ ,” Bea Wain’s recorded voice sang through the speakers. “ _That little kiss you stole held all my heart and soul_.” 

It was early morning and though no humans were awake yet, the sun was starting to rise outside. Alice and I had spent the night doing separate things in each other’s presence. She had been doing “work”; the stock market and the economic management of our assets that had naturally become her responsibility when she had joined the family. I had been laying on our bed all night, listening to different CDs while reading a book. When the morning started to creep upon us and I had turned on the Bea Wain record, Alice left her computer and offered to dance. 

Alice and I swung back and forth to jazz tones. There was truly nothing better than holding her in my arms. The music helped to tone down the noises around us. I could pinpoint all our family members throughout the house. Rosalie and Emmett were in their room, having the kind of interaction I had perfected the art of shutting out of my mind decades ago. Esme and Carlisle were sitting in Carlisle’s study, having a conversation about a car crash victim he had been able to save against all odds during his last shift. 

I leaned down to nuzzle the crook of Alice’s neck and lightly pressed my lips to her skin. She giggled and played with the hair in the back of my neck. 

_ It’s been a long time since we went out dancing _ , she thought. _ I miss it.  _

I was about to suggest we should take some time off of school and spend a few days in New Orleans. It had been long since, but we had made a habit of going back and celebrating our anniversary there every few years.

_ I’d love that _ , she thought and smiled excitedly at the image of us in New Orleans that had appeared in a vision.

I pressed my lips against hers. She smiled into the kiss. She leaned back and looked into my eyes, before taking my face in her hands. Her mind brought me back to the first time she had seen me in real life, in real time. I was walking through a crowded street in New Orleans in a 1950’s outfit as the street lights lit up my face.

Then, suddenly, Alice’s small body stopped moving to the music. Her feet froze in its spot and her hands fell from my cheeks. 

“ _ Shit _ ,” she said out loud. 

I saw it at the same time she did. It was  _ the girl _ . Stepping out of the plane arriving from Arizona. She was picked up by the town’s police chief, Charlie Swan. She was dressed in a brown and blue flannel shirt, with a backpack thrown over her shoulder. The police chief carried a purple suitcase in his hand. 

“ _ Cha- dad, I can take it _ ,” the girl said and reached for the suitcase. 

“Oh,” I said.

The girl had fair skin and long, flowing brown hair. Her mouth was wide compared to her narrow jawline. I was familiar with the face. I had seen her a handful of times through visions Alice had shown me in 1950. But it had never been this specific, never in a location or with a person we knew. 

“Now?” I whispered, making sure my words couldn’t be picked up by any other vampire ears but Alice’s. “It’s only 2005. I thought you said-” 

_ It was a guess _ , Alice thought. She stared at one of the buttons on my shirt with unfocused eyes.

Neither of us were used to being wrong. 

“Okay,” I said. “What does that mean?” 

_ I don’t know _ , Alice thought. 

Wordless thoughts were shooting through her head. The image she had seen long ago, of us and the girl,  _ together _ . The image of the girl opening her eyes, bright red, for the first time. The confusion in Carlisle and Esme’s eyes, Rosalie’s annoyed face and Emmett just looking baffled, before he started to laugh hysterically. 

We had kept this secret for a reason. 

When Alice had found me in New Orleans, I had felt understood for the first time in my lonely existence. I hadn’t hesitated to bring her home and introduce herself as my girlfriend to our family only a few hours after our first encounter. 

It had taken her days before she finally showed me the girl. 

We would meet her, fall in love with her. She would become one of us, and eventually she would become part of mine and Alice’s relationship. I had never accepted it, and when Alice had suggested that we should keep it to ourselves, I had agreed. 

Up until now, it had never felt real to me. It had felt like something that wouldn’t happen in another century, if it even would happen at all. Alice hadn’t mentioned it since we met. And here we were, in the turn of a new century, completely unprepared for the possibility. 

☾ ☾ ☾

The girl’s name was Isabella Swan, but she had been clear with everyone she’d talked to that she preferred a nickname.  _ Bella _ . She swam through the thoughts of every single student at Forks High School. The boys were ecstatic that a new girl had arrived to the small town. Mike Newton’s loud thoughts were already trying to figure out the best way to ask her to the upcoming school dance. 

I wrapped my arm tighter around Alice’s waist as we walked across the parking lot. 

Alice was concentrated. I led her up the stairs and towards the main building, while her blank eyes saw nothing of our surroundings. I followed along in her head. She tried different ways of approaching the girl, trying to see the outcome. Emmett and Rosalie walked behind us. 

“What’s going on with those two?” Emmett whispered to Rosalie, loud enough for me to hear. 

I could see Rosalie shrug through Emmett’s eyes. She observed us, agreeing with her husband. We did seem strange today. Then she threw her blonde hair over her shoulder.

_ Whatever _ , she thought. 

Alice came to the same conclusion over and over again. A kiss and a pair of red eyes. Alice’s lips against someone else’s made me growl lowly. 

“You okay, Eddie?” Emmett asked. I didn’t reply. 

Alice had once insisted it was one of those visions that wouldn’t change. One of those visions that had little to do with choice, and had everything to do with destiny. 

The girl’s face, the girl’s name. She was everywhere. The cluster of rambling thoughts were forecfully throwing her at me. I tried to redirect my focus, without finding a mind to set on. I sighed loudly and Alice gave me a cold stare. Her mind was definitely the worst out of all of them. The girl, over and over. Different opening lines, not always the same reaction but ultimately always the same outcome.

Alice and I had always been perfectly happy by ourselves. I loved her more than anyone or anything else in this universe. She was my entire world. So why had this curse been thrown upon us? Alice didn’t need an identity crisis, and I certainly didn’t need another wife. 

My rejection came to Alice through a vision. She saw me trying to stay away from the girl, and making failed attempts at convincing her to do the same. 

“ _ You don’t need whatever identity crisis this is _ ,” I spat at her in the vision. 

_ Don’t you dare, Edward _ , she hissed at me in her thoughts.  _ Don’t you fucking-  _

She cut herself off before she pulled herself back into reality and threw my arm off her waist. She started walking faster, away from us. 

_ Don’t you dare tell me what I need or don’t need,  _ she thought while walking through the main entrance, leaving the rest of us outside. I stopped walking.

“What was that?” Emmett groaned. “I hate this.” 

I tracked Alice’s thoughts. She walked to her first period. 

_ Leave me alone _ , she thought, knowing full well that I was still listening. 

She switched back to her visions, following the girl’s day. I didn’t want to see it, so I left her mind alone. 

“When is it ever  _ not _ like this, Emmett?” Rosalie said. “Come on, we’ll be late.” 

She took Emmett’s wrist and dragged him along into the school building. I was left by myself, watching the last students disappear through the entrance before the bell rang. 

☾ ☾ ☾

Alice found me in my Volvo in the school’s parking lot. My Debussy CD was playing and I had turned up the volume to shut out all the thoughts coming from the school building. I had skipped school, spending all day alone in my car in an empty parking lot outside of town. I hadn’t been able to go home and make Esme worry about me. Alice sat down in the passenger seat and closed the door loudly. She crossed her arms and looked out the window, refusing to meet my eyes.

Esme used to joke that we acted like children when we fought. In a way, that was exactly what we were. Teenagers, forever frozen in time. 

“Are we still going, or?” she hissed when I didn’t start the car. 

“I don’t know, are we?” I shot back at her. 

_ Just drive, Edward. I need to feed.  _

We hadn’t planned on going far. It was supposed to be quality time spent together, an opportunity for us to be alone. Tomorrow we would go back to school with our siblings, but the night was ours. I glanced over at my wife. She had her head resting against the glass of the car window, her eyes closed. She looked as if she was sleeping. The beginning of a smile appeared on her face. 

Her thought had wandered off. She and the girl had Spanish together with Mrs Goff. The girl was wearing a plaid shirt and her long hair let out. Alice waved at her, offering her the seat next to hers. 

_ “You’re the new girl. Bella?” _ Alice said even though there was no doubt she knew her name. _ ”I’m Alice. I can tell we’re going to be great friends.”  _

She had given the girl a big smile, and then Mrs Goff had started the class. Alice leaned over to whisper in the girl’s ear at the exact right moment, while Mrs Goff was telling another student to put away the Game Boy he had tried to hide under his desk. 

_ “Do you want to sit with me at lunch?”  _

Lunch break was right after Spanish class on both their schedules. A smile crept onto Bella’s lips and she nodded.  __

“And what did Rosalie have to say about that?” I asked. 

Alice’s bubbly excitement washed away as I took her out of the memory.

_ You’re impossible _ , she thought. 

She showed me Rosalie’s furious eyes and Emmett’s clueless face. She had made sure to take a table far away from the two of them, but she had pointed them out to the girl, telling her they were her siblings. Then she pushed a strand of the girl’s hair behind her ear. The girl blushed. 

I growled. 

_ Fuck off, Edward,  _ she snorted in response. 

I parked the car in the same empty parking lot where I had spent the day, hitting the breaks so hard that we would have jolted forward if we had been humans. 

The deep forest surrounded the parking lot. It was a rainy weekday, and Alice had not seen any hikers. We got out of the car and headed into the forest in silence. The dark clouds hung heavy above us. Soon, we left the trail and started running. I had always loved to hunt with Alice. Our senses combined and we became one in the hunt. The silent connection between us, our senses overlapping and slipping into one another’s, made moments like these better with her than they could possibly have been with anyone else. I melted into her mind. 

She saw us finding deer. I could smell it already. It wasn’t a favorite, but we hadn’t traveled far and it was as expected. Both of us fell into the hunt, acting like the predators we truly were. When we found the deer she launched at it. It wasn’t very big, but we shared it. 

When we had emptied the deer of its blood, Alice reached out her hand to touch the animal’s wound. She got the leftover blood on her fingertip, and smeared it on my nose. It happened so fast that I had been unable to recognize it in her thoughts. 

“Hey!” I said.

She bent over, laughing. I saw myself in her mind, with the blood on my nose. Quickly, I touched the deer’s wound myself. She saw it happen before it did, and started running deeper into the forest. The advantage the vision had given her did not help, I was the fastest one in our family. I caught up and wrapped my arms around her, touching my bloody finger to her nose. She laughed hysterically, struggling to get rid of my arms. We fell onto the ground and I held her wrists in my hands. She turned us around, pinning me to the ground. Then she kissed me. I opened my mouth, but she let go of my lips and licked the blood off of my nose. I chuckled. 

_ There’s another one not far from here _ , she thought.  _ Come on. _

She jumped up delicately. A vision of us feeding on another deer in just a few seconds appeared. I got up behind her, placing a kiss on her cheek before taking off. Usually I didn’t run at full speed when we hunted together, because it was more beneficial to have her by my side. Today I wanted to tease her, and I knew she wouldn’t be able to catch up. The branches on the tree’s ripped at my white shirt as I got deeper into the forest. 

I used Alice’s vision to guide me through the forest. I was in her mind, in her vision, while running towards the deer. The vision took a turn, spinning into another direction. A hiker was in the forest after all, unknowingly moving towards us. He was a tall man carrying a big backpack. It looked like he had been hiking for a few days at this point. 

Alice had fallen deeper into her predatory instincts that I had. She was hunting, and she would take off the moment she felt the scent of the man. It would only be a matter of seconds. I turned around, running back towards her at the highest speed I could possibly reach. She had already caught the scent. She was not in control of her mind anymore, the beast in her had taken control. 

It was in moments like these I was reminded of the monsters we truly were. Soulless killers. Carlisle had always been a true optimist. He saw the best in people, and he strongly believed we weren’t Godless beings. It had been a recurring discussion between the two of us during my early years. After I met Alice I had stopped caring as much about which one of us was right. She made me a better person, and it was worth existing in this body if it meant I got to be with her. 

I launched myself at Alice, holding her down against the muddy ground once again. She tried to fight me, hissing and scratching my skin with her sharp claws. It stung.

“Alice,” I whispered. “Stop it.”

Her body went limp and she started sobbing. 

_ I’m sorry _ , she thought.  _ I’m so sorry, I- _

“Not your fault. It happens to all of us.”

It hadn’t been long since Emmett had taken a hiker by mistake. We could only do so much, in these soulless bodies we had been cursed to exist in for the rest of eternity. 

_ I’m supposed to know _ , she insisted.  __

“He made the decision too late. There was nothing you could do.” 

I helped her off the ground and held her in my arms. She leaned against my chest and breathed slowly to calm herself. I played with her short hair, knowing it would comfort her. 

When I was with her, I was at home. 

_ I can’t let this happen again _ , she thought. _ I must become better. For  _ her _. _

The girl returned. Her red cheeks, translucent skin, frail body. Alice could kill her in less than a second. She could kill her accidentally in a hug, in a kiss … The vision of them together Alice had shown me only once in 1950 came back. They were by themselves in a car, kissing. I recognized the black leather seats now. It was Carlisle’s Mercedes. 

“It wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen,” I said coldly. 

Alice gasped and pushed me off of her with full force. I flew back, smashing into a tree. The old trunk broke where I hit it and fell onto the ground with a loud noise. 

“How can you say something like that?” she yelled at me. “How can you …”

She turned her back on me and I watched her disappear between the trees, into the deep, dark forest.


	3. New Orleans

**New Orleans: Edward**

During 1950, when we had stayed in Tennessee for Carlisle’s research’s sake, I had sometimes taken off to New Orleans after the sun had set to experience some kind of stimulation from the outside world. The night I met Alice had been one of those nights. The high humidity was hanging in the air and it felt nice as it clung to my cold skin. I was roaming through the crowded streets, not sure what I was doing there by myself once again. I had nowhere to go, no one to meet. It was Friday and young men and women were out to celebrate the end of the work week. Their minds were filled with high expectations. Expectations on a good movie shown in the theater, on a club with a live band, on the potential of getting a kiss from the person they were interested in, or maybe someone they’d never met before. 

It was then I saw her standing under a tree, waiting. We locked eyes. Hers were golden.

My first thought was that she must know Carlisle. Quickly, I catalogued the vampires he knew, and concluded that he had never mentioned anyone else like us, except our cousins in Denali.

_Edward_ , I heard her inner voice say. 

I stopped walking, my eyebrows meeting each other in a wrinkle. When she saw my reaction to hearing my own name in her mind, her entire face lit up and I could hear her low giggle. She walked up to me and held out her hand.

”I’m Alice,” she said. 

I hesitated. 

”Do you know Carlisle?” I asked.

My father’s face appeared in her thoughts. The image zoomed out, showing him and Esme meeting me in the hallway of our Tennessee home as the sun began to rise. Alice was standing behind me, clinging to my right arm, eager to say hi. It wasn’t a fantasy. The scenario was as sharp as only a memory could be. But it had never happened. It couldn’t be a memory. 

”Not yet,” she said. ”Will you come dance with me?” 

Another memory. Me and her, dancing to a live orchestra at a club. We were in perfect sync with each other. Humans were paired up, swirling around us. The music seemed loud enough to block out the distinction of their individual thoughts. Cigarette smoke lingered in the air.

_It’ll be so much fun!_ she thought. _Please, Edward. I have waited for so long._

She flipped through her past memories like a photo album. She had been waiting, searching, preparing. Her inner monologue was directed directly at me. She knew my power, and now I understood hers. 

”You see the future,” I said in a low voice, impossible for human ears to pick up on. 

_I saw that I would meet you here._

Once again, she reached out for my hand. Not to shake, but to hold. I took her small hand in mine and she led me though the street. 

She would take me dancing. She would lead me home.

☾ ☾ ☾

I opened the front door to our house in the outskirts of Forks. The rain smattered against the roof and my clothes were damp from running. The parking lot had been empty when I’d made my way out of the forest where Alice had left me. 

Esme pressed her lips together and watched the water drip on the floor.

“Where’s Alice?” she asked. 

I shrugged and walked past her. 

“Edward!” she called out after me. 

I ran up the stairs and disappeared into my room, into Alice’s closet. It was a big space. Esme had designed it for her and she had been thrilled when she’d seen Esme’s plan in a vision. She loved to spend time in there, trying on different pieces and designing her own. I would try out different notes on the keyboard while she was in the closet for hours, and then she would come out, dressed in something that made her shine even more than she always did. She would swirl around to the music and then she would come over and kiss me. 

In the very back of the closet, Alice had hung her wedding dress on the wall. It had a wide, floor length skirt and a long sleeved, off the shoulders top. The fabric had once been white and shiny but had, unlike us, aged with the years. The white had turned a bit yellow, and it didn’t look as crisp anymore. 

The dress smelled like her. I touched it with my fingertips, remembering the day she’d worn it. We had barely known each other for more than a few months, but I saw no reason to wait. She had already waited her entire existence, and it felt like I had waited my entire existence as well. 

I thought of Alice together with the girl and clenched my fists. How could a simple girl, a human, walk into our lives and steal mine away from me? I despised her for what she’d done to us, to me. What she had taken from me. Life would never go back to normal. Our immortal nature was fixed. Things barely changed, and when they did it could never be undone. 

The realization made me cry out loud. 

I could hear Esme’s reacting to the sound of my cry downstairs. She was worrying about me, but didn’t want to intrude. She had mopped the floor of water to distract herself. Now she stood still in the hallway, staring blankly at the wall while she processed the situation. 

It didn’t surprise me that Esme knew everything. I saw the scenes she’d imagined for herself as she went through them in her mind. The fight at school, me skipping, Alice sitting with the girl at lunch, Alice and I leaving together to hunt. Rosalie had told her everything. She had been worried about what attention Alice might draw to us. For once, I agreed with Rosalie. 

It didn’t take long for Esme to make her decision. She knew I was listening in, and she concluded that there was no reason to keep distance. She came upstairs and knocked on my door. I forced myself to leave the closet and let her in. We sat down on the bed in silence. 

_What is going on? I hate to see you fight,_ she asked.

It wasn’t the first time Alice and I had fought. We were not like her and Carlisle, always compromising. Not like Rosalie and Emmett either, who sometimes had their disagreements, disagreements which would never last long. Emmett was always the one to give in to Rosalie. Rosalie never compromised. 

Alice and I were both stubborn. Maybe it was our abilities that had made us that way. Alice was convinced she was right because she could see what would happen. I was convinced I was right because I could hear what was true. 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I told my mother. 

She looked at me with worried eyes. She thought of the other times Alice and I had argued. It was always about big decisions, decisions affecting the entire family. Never something silly, like the things Rosalie could throw a fit over. 

_What are you keeping from us?_ she asked. Her eyes grew bigger as a possible explanation hit her. _Are you thinking of leaving?_

She imagined me with faded red eyes, coming home after the time I had taken off many decades ago. She thought about Alice, how she had no idea where she came from. Maybe she wanted to find her own history, create a life for herself, independent from the teachings that had been thrown upon her? Or was I the one who wanted to leave? 

The red eyes appeared again. 

“No, no,” I interrupted. “Of course we’re not leaving. We would never- _I_ would never-”

_I’m sorry, Edward,_ Esme thought. She knew the image was painful for me to see, she knew that the memory brought up so much shame in me. She rubbed her hand over my shoulder in a motherly way. _Please, tell me what’s wrong._

“I’m sorry, Esme,” I said and wrapped my arms around her in an attempt to comfort her. “This is between Alice and I.” 

☾ ☾ ☾

_Alice called_ , Carlisle thought as I entered his study. _She’s in Alaska._

“Hypothetically” I started. “Would a relationship between three people be wrong? Morally?”

Carlisle looked up at me from behind his desk. 

“Three people?” he asked. “A relationship in what sense, do you mean?”

I considered my words carefully. “If three people were involved with each other, similarly to a monogamous arrangement, but with one addition.”

_Why are you asking me this?_ Carlisle thought. 

“It’s just a hypothetical question,” I insisted. 

“It depends on who you’re asking. There are cultures where polyamory have been practiced through-out history. Different religions and cultures have different views.” 

“And what do you think? Do you think it would be wrong?”

_Is this about you and Alice?_

“Why would you think that?”

_Something is going on between the two of you,_ he thought and looked at me with compassion, not judgement. _I’m just asking._

“ _Do_ _you_ think it would be wrong?”

“I don’t know, Edward,” he said with a heavy sigh. “We do things that are wrong all the time. We slip up, we break the law, we manipulate our surroundings. I don’t think a polyamorous relationship would be the worst thing this family has seen.” 

_Who is it?_ he asked.

I shook my head. 

“I told you, it’s just hypothetical.”


	4. Vampire

**Vampire: Bella**

I had never really had a girlfriend. 

Once, when I was fourteen, Renée had sent me to a summer camp. She was leaving for a vacation with a new boyfriend, and it was the first summer that I wouldn’t visit Charlie in Forks. The girl I shared bunk beds with had braided me a friendship bracelet. The other girls in our cabin spent all evening talking about what boys at camp they thought were the cutest. One night after a dance party the girl I bunked with followed me down to the lake. The sun had set and the moon mirrored itself in the water. 

“Can I kiss you?” the girl asked. Quickly, she added: “I have never kissed anyone. I thought, uh, it could be good practice. For when we’re going to kiss boys.” 

“Yeah … it could be good practice,” I agreed in a shy voice. I felt myself blush and hoped she wouldn’t see it in the dark. 

Every night that followed she slipped into my bed after the other girls had fallen asleep. But we were never really girlfriends. 

“Bella!” Alice waved at me. 

She came walking towards my truck. I had gotten used to her pale, almost greyish, skin and the heavy, purple bags under her eyes. Her golden eyes. She didn’t look human. The way she walked, the easiness in her steps. She flew through the parking lot, as if her feet never really touched the ground. A floating ballerina. Meanwhile, I could barely walk across a flat surface without stumbling. 

Behind her, her boyfriend was glaring at me. He stood by his silver Volvo with his teeth clenched. I knew he hated me. His black eyes were on fire. I couldn’t help to think that he looked beautiful. The whole family did, of course, but it was more than that. Even when he looked like he wanted to kill me, I found him intriguing. I tried to shake off the feeling. I had decided I wouldn’t be into boys anymore. I had even started to identify as a lesbian only. At least, it was what I had told the boys who had tried to ask me to prom earlier during the week. 

Alice hooked my arm in hers and led me towards the school building. The ice under my shoes threatened me at every step I took. 

“I got you,” she promised. 

We passed the silver Volvo. Her boyfriend looked the other away. Alice kept her eyes on the school building. 

“Your boyfriend hates me,” I whispered. 

“Currently, he hates everyone,” she said. She was silent for a moment, and had that look on her face. That searching look she got before she would say something that revealed she knew too much. “You don’t have any plans for tonight. Charlie is going out fishing. Do you want to go out to get dinner? It’s on me. I know a place in Port Angeles that is supposed to have really good pasta. You like pasta.”

“You’re very specific today,” I said. She kept doing this, making statements that should have been questions. 

“Just a feeling. Am I wrong?”

“No,” I whispered. 

“So, do you want to go?” she asked.

“Will you answer my questions?”

“You’re so stubborn, Bella,” she laughed. She paused for a second. “Yes, I will answer your questions tonight. If you think you can handle the answers. Think about that before you decide to ask.” 

“And what does your intuition say? Can I handle it?”

She held my arm tighter and leaned into me. “You can handle it. It’s someone else who can’t.” 

I looked behind us again, down at the parking lot. The spot where the silver Volvo had been parked was empty. 

I hugged Alice’s arm. Between the layers of coats she didn’t feel as cold. More like an ice pack, wrapped up in a towel. Even though she was so small, and even though she looked so dainty, she didn’t feel delicate. She felt strong. Strong and secure. 

I had never really had a girlfriend. But maybe I was about to get one.

☾ ☾ ☾

As it got darker outside and Alice’s arrival was getting closer, I prepared dinner for Charlie. He kept telling me I didn’t have to, that he could order in, but I found myself wanting to. There were no bills to pay in this household. No chaotic living room that needed cleaning. The only thing I had to offer was my cooking. The landline started ringing as I finished up the dinner. 

“Swan’s residence,” I said when I picked up the phone.

“Bella!” I heard my mother’s voice on the other side of the line. The background was noisy. I could hear cars driving past her. “How are you?”

“I’m good. How are you and Phil?” I asked.

“We’re doing great! We just decided to head out for a road trip tonight! We’re going to New Orleans!” she yelled into the phone. 

“That sounds fun,” I said.

“How is Forks?”

“It’s alright. Do you remember Jacob, Billy Black’s son? I saw him the other day, at the beach down at the reservation. And tonight … I’m kind of going on a date, mom. There’s this really amazing girl-” 

“That sounds great, Bella! I need to get going now, we just stopped to fill up the tank.”

“I hope you have a nice trip,” I mumbled before she hung up. 

I turned around just in time to see a black Mercedes pull up on the parking lot outside of the house. I could spot Alice behind the steering wheel. I stopped to breathe in the hallway before I headed out. 

“Who’s car is this?” I asked once I’d gotten into the passenger seat of the car I’d never seen before. 

“Dad’s,” Alice explained as she started driving. I could tell she was pushing the speed limit. Not by a lot, but slightly. “Honestly, he was the only one who was willing to let me borrow a car. Both Edward and Rosalie were going to refuse. Emmett would say yes, but his car is one of those Jeeps made for extreme terrain, you know? Not really the kind of car you want to take into the city. So this one it is.” 

I opened my mouth. 

“I will answer all your questions. Do you want to start with me, or with _him_?” 

“You,” I said. 

“Go ahead.”

I paused for a moment, considering my words carefully. Jacob Black had told me the legend about the cold ones when I visited the beach in La Push, and I had done an extensive amount of googling since. It felt ridiculous to ask this sort of question, like I had been thrown into one of those silly young adult novels that was stored in a box in my mom’s garage. Yet, I couldn’t help but feel convinced it must be true. I had never been more sure of anything in my entire life. 

“You’re not human,” I said, attempting to speak as self-confident as Alice always did when she stated a question like it was really a fact. 

She was silent for a moment, and I kept my eyes on the road. Forks was a small town, and it hadn’t taken long before the landscape of gas stations and small houses turned into forest. 

“The legends Jacob told you are true, yes.” 

I turned my head to look at her. The yellow street lights hit her face softly in the darkness of the car. She was beautiful. Beautiful in a way that wasn’t humanly possible. 

“How do you know what Jacob told me?” I asked. I wasn’t even surprised. 

“I saw it happen,” she shrugged. “I guess you could say it’s my talent. I see things before they happen.” 

“Like, seeing the future?”

“Yes, like seeing the future,” she said, and then she let out a loud sigh. 

“Bella, will you please let me drive faster? It’ll take an hour to Port Angeles if I try to stay within the speed limit.”

“Drive faster? You’re already driving above the speed limit!”

“Just trust me, okay? It would be impossible for me to crash the car. I can drive with my eyes closed.” 

“You know my dad is a cop, right?”

“He wouldn’t even see us if we passed by.”

“What?”

She pushed the gas pedal and zigzagged past the few cars in front of us. 

“You’re freaking me out, Alice,” I whispered. 

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”

When we arrived to Port Angeles, Alice parked outside of the restaurant. She turned to me.

“Just so you know, I don’t eat.”

She was on my side of the car in a second, opening the door for me. “You’ll need a hand, trust me.”

I took her hand and she supported my weight as I stepped out the car. The ground was still icy and I felt myself slipping. Her grip around my hand made it possible for me to stabilize my balance. 

“Did you see me falling?” I asked. 

“You know I did,” she said. “Come on, you will like this place.” 

Alice got us a table in the very back of the restaurant, in a private booth. Our waiter was a girl with blue stripes in her hair. I guessed she was a senior in high school. She seemed very smittened by Alice, who smiled at her politely but paid her no attention. 

I looked down at my menu. 

“You’re not going to like the pasta primavera” Alice said when the waiter left our table. “Try the mushroom ravioli.” 

“If Jacob’s legend is true … and you don’t eat …” 

“Carlisle has a special outlook on life. I must admit it’s rare. My family only drinks animal blood. We call ourselves vegetarian, as an inside joke. We have cousins up in Alaska, they’re on the same diet.”

“Cousins? Are you biologically related?” 

“No, none of us are,” she said. “You can’t be born a vampire. Carlisle created everyone. Edward, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett. Everyone except me.” 

A _vampire_. She said it with such ease.

“Who created you?” I asked. 

“We don’t know. I don’t remember my human life. It’s foggy for everyone, but not gone. When I woke up, after I had been turned, I saw a vision with the faces of my family, of Edward. And of you. It’s all I’ve ever known.”

“You saw _me_?” 

Her face lit up. “Yes, I saw you. We were destined to meet, Bella. My visions are subjective. They can change based on people’s actions. But the one about you has always been there, since the very beginning.” 

It was the most shocking piece of information she had shared all evening. That she had known about me before I had arrived, which might as well be longer than my entire existence. I was already someone to her, she had known me all her life. Meanwhile, I knew nothing about her. Nothing that was real, at least. 

“How old are you, Alice?” I asked.

Her smile faded. “I don’t know,” she said. “My late teens, I think. 18, maybe 19?”

“No,” I said. “Not like that.”

She sighed. “I was turned in 1920. So, a little older than 100?” 

“So you have known about me for … like, 80 years?”

“Yeah,” she said. “And I have thought about you as often as I was able to.”

“What do you mean, ‘as often as you were able to’?”

“I’m not the only one with an ability,” she explained. “Edward can read minds.”

“Oh,” I said. Of course he could. That must be why he hated me so much. He could hear all my thoughts about his girlfriend who I had taken away from him. “So, what about Edward? What’s your deal? Jessica told me you’ve been together since you moved here.”

“Edward and I have been together for a very long time, since 1950. We’ve always known you were coming, but he could never accept it. I had to censor my mind around him, because I knew reminding him about you would upset him. That’s why he is upset now. He thinks this means that I’m leaving him.” 

My heartbeat picked up and I felt myself starting to sweat. It would probably leave embarrassing spots in the armpits of my shirt. I felt my face turn red. 

“But aren’t you?” I whispered. “Aren’t you leaving him?” 

She reached for my hand under the table and squeezed it gently. Her cool skin calmed me. 

“You don’t need to worry, Bella. You will love him, I promise. Once the two of you get a chance to meet each other, you will _love_ each other.”

“What are you saying?” I asked. “That I will love you … _and_ him?” 

“Yes,” she said with excitement written all over her face.

I couldn’t understand how this had happened. Suddenly I had been invited to a supernatural secret, and destined to have a relationship with two vampires who had been a couple since the mid 1900’s. I stared at Alice in disbelief. 

“Does he know?” I asked.

“He knows, he just hasn’t come around yet.” 

“This is a lot to process,” I said and smiled weakly. 

She giggled. “It’s not the part about us drinking blood that freaks you out, but the part about Edward.”

“It’s only the blood of animals,” I argued. 

“Everyone slips up sometimes.” 

I shivered at the thought. Her beautiful face, biting into soft skin, blood running down the corner of her mouth. At the same time, I couldn’t deny that the image was kind of sexy.

“Is it … is it difficult for you? Like, is it difficult right now?” I asked.

“No, not right now. But if you were to cut yourself, or if I were to stumble upon you while hunting, then it would be difficult. Only drinking animal blood is a constant fight with nature. It takes a lot of self control.” 

“I trust you,” I whispered. 

Honestly, I didn’t even know if I would have minded her teeth against my skin. 

☾ ☾ ☾

Alice had parked the Mercedes outside of Charlie’s house. The lights were still out and the police car was nowhere to be seen. I had unhooked my seat belt and twisted my upper body in her direction with my shoulder against the back of the seat. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. The short bangs of her pixie cut framing her face, her perfectly sculpted eyebrows, her pale lips, that empty expression in her eyes. 

She wasn’t there. 

“Can I … can I kiss you?” I whispered. 

My words brought her back. I could see the exact moment when life entered her eyes again. She was quiet for a second, closing her eyes and breathing out. Then, she leaned forward and pressed her lips carefully against mine. They were cold and firm, nothing like human lips at all. A jolt of electricity shot through my body. 

It was a quick kiss. Almost just a peck on the lips. Her eyes were still closed when she let me go. She leaned against the back of her car seat. A painful look washed over her face. She was gone again, lost to some other reality I had no access to. 

“I’m sorry,” I was quick to say. “This was a bad idea. I shouldn’t have asked.” 

She opened her eyes and turned her face towards me, pressing her cheek against the car seat’s leather cover. She reached out her hand to touch my cheek. 

“No,” she said and smiled weakly. “It was perfect. It was meant to happen … I’ve seen it before.”

“So what’s wrong?”

“It’s Edward,” she sighed. “He’s going to hate me. I don’t know how … I twist and turn it but I can’t seem to find a way to calm him down.” She paused. “I’m sorry, Bella. I shouldn’t talk so much about him.”

“It’s okay,” I reassured her. “I understand. You love him.”

“I do.”

“Tell me about him.”

“Oh, he’s stubborn and self obsessed,” she said with a sad chuckle. “When we first met, he didn’t believe he had a soul. He believed it was lost when Carlisle had turned him. It was this great sadness he had carried around for about 30 years at that point. He was _so_ sad, Bella. You can only imagine. But then, after we met, he let go of that thought. I think he still believes in it, but he stopped caring.”

“Do you believe … _vampires_ have souls?” 

“I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t remember my human life. Human culture and customs are not as important to me as it is to my family, I guess. Religion and God and souls … it has no real meaning to me.” 

“Maybe he’s upset because he’s scared of losing his soul again,” I said. “Maybe, _you_ are his soul.”


	5. Anna Karenina

**Anna Karenina: Edward**

Alice didn’t look at me when she entered our room. The moonlight, shining through the glass wall, lit her up as she walked towards the door of the walk-in closet. I heard her moving around in the space while changing her clothes. In her mind, she was translating  _ Anna Karenina _ from Russian to old Greek. When she stepped out of the closet, she wore her pistachio green silk shorts with a matching pyjamas blouse. She stared out the window, her back turned towards me.

“Do you want to go to New Orleans?” I asked carefully. “Our anniversary is coming up …” 

The question made her slip. For a short second, I saw what she was trying to hide behind  _ Anna Karenina _ . She had been with the girl tonight. They had been to a dark restaurant in Port Angeles, hiding in a private booth with a plate of ravioli on the table. Alice knew I had seen it, but didn’t move. 

“Was it planned?” I asked. 

“It was just dinner,” she said out loud. 

“Was it planned?” I demanded. 

“I asked her to come with me, yes.”

She wrapped her arms around herself. I could see her sharp nails digging into her skin. She kept translating  _ Anna Karenina _ . 

“What else?” I growled quietly, trying not to make a scene. I knew the rest of the family was listening in on us. “What else are you hiding from me, Alice?” 

I stared at her back. Behind her was the dark river, the deep forest. She looked to the side of the room, at our wedding photo on the dresser from my biological parents’ home in Chicago. I could see that her eyes were watering, as much as a pair of vampire eyes were able to. 

“You’re killing me, Edward,” she whispered. She was concentrating so hard on  _ Anna Karenina  _ that she had to speak out loud not to get thrown off. 

“ _ You _ ’re killing  _ me _ ,” I shot back at her. “What are you keeping from me?” 

Alice sat down on the floor, curling up in herself. She put her cheek against her knees. 

_ I’m sorry _ , she thought. 

Then it all happened at once. The evening with the girl in its entirety. The kiss they shared in Carlisle’s Mercedes, the secrets Alice had revealed about herself and about us. The vision of me growling loudly, yelling hysterically at her. The vision of Esme and Carlisle breaking into the room. Then, the visions coming to life. I felt Carlisle’s firm grip on my shoulder, making sure he could stop me if I tried to move. 

“What is going on?” our mother scolded. “This needs to stop  _ right now _ . None of us living in this house can take it anymore.” 

I had never seen Esme like this before. Never so disappointed, never so angry. She was always so forgiving, so overlooking. She always found compassion when no one else could. But then she leaned down, taking Alice into her arms. Alice clung to her body. 

Our mother was only disappointed in one of us. 

My soul, my Alice, had been taken from me, and the beast that lured within had taken over.

“Are you alright, dear?” she whispered against the top of Alice’s head. 

_ Edward, will you please come with me? _ Carlisle thought.  _ We need to talk _ .

I kept my eyes on the floor as I followed him out of the room. Esme’s sharp, disapproving thoughts felt like knife cuts. Finally she saw me for the monster I truly was. Saw what had been hiding behind Alice’s presence all this time. 

I could hear Rosalie and Emmett downstairs, quietly following the show.

_ This would have been the perfect time to pop some popcorn _ , Emmett thought. 

Carlisle closed the door to his study. 

_ Tell me what’s going on, son _ , he thought, offering me one of the two wooden renaissance armchairs that were placed in the corner of the office. He sat down in the other one. The painting of himself and the three Volturi leaders hung behind him. I sat down but kept quiet. 

_ I’m not judging you, I just want to help _ , he thought. He hesitated, and then he spoke out loud. 

“Is this about the hypothetical questions you came to me with after Alice left for Alaska?” 

“They went out tonight,” I finally said.

_ And what happened?  _

“They kissed. And she told her … she knows about us now.”

I heard Rosalie downstairs. She swore loudly. One of Esme’s glass vases landed on the floor, smashing into hundreds of pieces. Carlisle looked at me and breathed out heavily. 

“Maybe this is a matter that calls for a family meeting,” he concluded. “I’ll go check on Alice.”

He disappeared out the door. I was left alone in the room, with Aro, Caius and Marcus’s red eyes staring at me through the painting. As I examined it closer, I noticed a smirk on Aro’s lips that I had not taken notice of before. Through Carlisle’s mind I saw him enter mine and Alice’s room. She was sitting on the bed with Esme, who was stroking her back. If Alice had been human, she would have been crying. Instead, she just sobbed against Esme’s chest. 

“It’s okay,” she whispered to Carlisle. “I will come downstairs with you.” 

She had already examined her options. The best outcome would come from solving this immediately, before Rosalie had time to build up more resentment towards her and the girl. 

They walked out the room and I joined them, but kept my distance. When we came downstairs, Alice curled up on the couch. She looked so exposed in her silk shorts, while everyone else was still wearing their day clothes. I wrapped a blanket around her before I sat down on the other side of the couch. 

_ Thank you _ , Alice thought. She wrapped the blanket tighter around her body. 

Carlisle pulled out a kitchen chair. Esme sat down next to Alice. Rosalie hadn’t moved, she was still standing next to the shredded glass that had been Esme’s vase. Behind her stood Emmett with his arms around her. It wasn’t to comfort her, but to restrain her in case he needed to.

“Can the two of you explain what has been going on these past couple of weeks?” Carlisle asked us. 

Alice took a deep breath before she started talking.

“This is something I’ve known would happen for a very long time,” she told them. “When I woke up for the first time, after I had been turned, I saw Edward’s face, and then all of yours, as you all know. But that’s not the whole truth. I also saw Bella’s face, I saw the three of us together. Me, and Edward … and her. Edward and I decided it would be best to keep it to ourselves. I didn’t think it would happen so soon, I was not prepared.” 

I stayed quiet, observing the rest of the family as they listened to Alice. Carlisle and Esme looked simultaneously surprised and concerned. Rosalie was furious, and Emmett was about to start laughing.

“You’re telling me you two have been planning a threesome for 55 years?” he blurted out. 

Alice rolled her eyes. “That’s not what this is about, Emmett.”

“That’s what it sounds like to me!” 

“Let her speak,” Esme said.

Alice continued. “As I said, it took us both by surprise and Edward has not been able to accept it. There’s no need to worry about what the girl knows. She will become one of us, there is no threat. There is no need to move or to get rid of her in any way.” 

“But your visions aren’t static, Alice” Carlisle said. “How can you be so sure?” 

“This is something different. It’s the same kind of vision I had of all of you, of Edward. It’s not going to change. The sooner Edward realizes that, the easier this will be for all of us.” 

All eyes turned to me. 

“I don’t see what good this does for anyone,” I said. “I am perfectly happy as it is. I don’t need a human girl. I don’t need anyone else, Alice.”

“But don’t you understand?” she said. “You are equals to me, you have always been. Don’t you understand that I spent 30 years of my life waiting for you, both of you? I was alone, and all I had was the thought of the two of you! Do you understand how much you’re hurting me, Edward? You’re not only rejecting her, but you’re also rejecting the hope that kept me sane during all those years. Do you understand what it was like? How much I clung to those visions? It’s like the person who you really are rejecting is  _ me _ . You have known all along this is who I am and that this is what life was going to be like with me.” 

_ Why can’t you do this for me? _ she thought. 

She had always existed in between reality and her visions. Her feelings were always mixed up with things that were yet to come. I had assumed she hadn’t paid much attention to the vision of the girl before she showed up. But of course she had. She had waited for her all these years, by herself. Had she thought about her every time I was out of reach? Had she made an effort to keep it from me?

I opened my mouth.

_ Yes _ , she thought before I had the chance to ask.

The rest of the family was watching me, waiting for my response. 

“I …” I started. “I don’t know what to say.” 

“I think this situation is under control,” Carlisle said carefully and moved the chair back to the table. Esme took his hand and they left the room together. 

_ Be kind to her, Edward _ , she thought before they disappeared. 

“Come on, darling,” Emmett mumbled to Rosalie and dragged her out of the room. 

_ You two are a mess _ , she spat at me. 

Alice crawled up to me on the couch. She took my face in her hands, stroking my cheek. 

“Edward, please,” she whispered.  _ I don’t want us to fight. _

“Why did you do it?” I asked. “Why did you kiss her?” 

_ I have been waiting for so long _ , she thought. _ I’m sorry, I should have made sure we made up first. I have been so angry. _

“Why didn’t you tell me this was so important to you? I thought you had forgotten about her …” 

_ I have talked to you about this so many times, but there was no way to reason about this. I had to wait. _

She showed me the visions where she had attempted to bring it up. She flipped through them, showing me how my reaction was always the same no matter how she brought it up. I became upset, we fought, and when we finally made up we had not found common ground. 

_ You are very stubborn _ , she concluded.

“So are you,” I said.

_ Please, just try. For me.  _

“She wouldn’t even want me, Alice. She’s a lesbian. I’ve heard her reject every boy this town has to offer. They ask her to prom and she tells them she’s a lesbian.” 

_ It’s a political thing. _

“What?”

_ She’s not actually a lesbian, she’s bisexual. It’s called political lesbianism. It’s a 70’s thing from some radical branch of the Women’s Liberation Movement that she has got some kind of fixation with. I think she’s just scared of being made fun of. Boys can be mean, you know.  _

“Oh,” I said. 

_ You will love each other, Edward. There’s no need to fight it. You will feel about her the same way you feel about me. And you will be upset with yourself that we had this fight once you realize I was right. _

She leaned in and kissed me. It was our first kiss since the girl had showed up at school. I had missed her. We had never been apart this long before, not in 55 years. 

_ I want us to go to New Orleans and celebrate our anniversary. Just the two of us. You’re not losing me, Edward. I’m still as much yours as I’ve always been. _


	6. Telepathy

**Telepathy: Bella**

If I had never really had a girlfriend, I had certainly never had a boyfriend.

Last year, a boy from my English literature class in Phoenix had asked me to the homecoming dance. The boy sat in front of me in class. He was good looking, and I knew most girls at school were interested in him. Yet, I had turned him down. 

I had overheard him and his friends, laughing at me behind my back as I passed them on my way to the next period. They thought of me as the nerdy girl, the weird girl, the clumsy girl. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t overheard before during my years in school. The following week, the rest of his friend group went on to ask me to the dance. Finally I had given in, desperate for them to stop bugging me. The boy whose invitation I had accepted had laughed and taken it back. 

That summer, I read all the second wave feminist literature I could come across. I had found the _Love Your Enemy?_ pamphlet in a feminist book store. I wasn’t really a radical person, but the idea spoke to me. 

Renée had laughed at me when I told her I was going to practice political lesbianism. 

With the exception of the boys in my literature class, I had never really had any boys to turn down before I moved to Forks. The thought of the boys of Forks’ high school ganging up on me in an attempt to make fun of me like the boys in Phoenix was impossible to let go of. And either way, none of them had caught my interest. So I stuck to the commitment I had made to myself last summer. It was better for my well being to stay away from boys, no matter their intention. I couldn’t allow myself to be hurt like that again. 

But there he was. He was tall and had messy hair and he looked beautiful. And also a bit uncomfortable. His eyes wandered back and forth between Alice and I. 

“I haven’t gotten a chance to introduce myself,” he finally said. “I’m Edward.” 

“I heard you’re not really my biggest fan,” I attempted to joke. The awkward silence that followed on his part was unbearable. 

“He will fall madly in love with you,” Alice said. Her whole body was vibrating with excitement. 

I looked at Edward and laughed awkwardly. He shook his head and raised his eyebrows in overplayed disbelief. Then, a small chuckle and a crooked smile. 

“Alice,” he said in a playful tone. 

“It is only the truth,” she said. “Now, let’s go or we’ll be late.” 

She walked ahead, disappearing into what I figured was the Jeep that belonged to Emmett. Her intentions by leaving me alone with Edward were obvious. She sat down in the back seat with a wide grin on her face. 

“She seems really excited about this,” I said and nodded in the Jeep’s direction. 

“Are you?” Edward asked.

“What?”

“How do you feel about this?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But if she says this is it, then I guess … I don’t know.”

“I don’t understand,” he said. “You, uh, you surprise me.” 

“Surprise you in what way?”

He shook his head and started walking towards the Jeep. 

“Hey!” I called out after him. “You can’t just leave in the middle of a conversation like that!” 

He turned around with a chuckle. “You heard Alice, we’ll be late.” 

I had certainly never had a boyfriend, and it was certainly a weird one the world was trying to throw at me. 

☾ ☾ ☾

Alice’s family was already at the location when we arrived in Emmett’s Jeep. We parked at the edge of an opening in the middle of the forest we had driven through. The sky above us was dark with heavy clouds. Every once in a while the thunder struk. I clung to Alice’s arm and counted the seconds between thunder and lightning. 

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll know if anything dangerous is going to happen.” 

“Esme is excited to meet you,” Edward said. “She’s our adopted mother-”

“She knows,” Alice interrupted. 

“Alice,” Edward started, but didn’t continue. 

They looked at each other with intense eyes and didn’t exchange another word. Alice let go of my arm and started running ahead of us. She became nothing more than a colorful blur, moving too fast for my eyes to see. It barely took a second before she was with her family, hugging the woman I assumed to be Mrs Cullen. Rosalie and Emmett, who I recognized from school, stood further away from their parents. Rosalie’s eyes were deadly. 

“What was that about?” I asked. 

“She’s just giving us some space,” Edward said. 

“No, not that. The way you looked at each other and-”

“Can I hold your hand?” he asked. “If you want to, if not that’s fine, I just-”

“No, no, it’s alright,” I said and took his hand in mine. His bare finger wrapped around my knitted mitten. It was cold outside, the rain almost turning into snowflakes. I was grateful for the mitten’s protection from his even colder skin. 

“Sorry,” he said. “We’re not really used to this. That’s how we communicate with each other. It drives Emmett crazy.”

“I understand why,” I said and smiled. 

Mrs Cullen waved at me when we came closer. She walked up to meet us. Edward let go of my hand as his adoptive mother pulled me into a hug.

“I’m so excited that I finally get to meet you, Bella” she said.

“Hi,” I said and smiled awkwardly. “It’s nice to meet you too, Mrs Cullen.”

“Please, call me Esme,” she insisted. 

The three of us walked over to Carlisle and Alice, who had been joined by Emmett and Rosalie. I greeted all of them. Carlisle shook my hand and Emmett waved at me while Rosalie grinded her teeth and refused to look my way. Edward and Alice stared intensely at each other again. Edward shook his head in a small, almost unnoticeable, gesture. 

“Guys, you have to stop doing that,” I said. 

Emmett laughed loudly. “Get used to it!” 

“I wouldn’t want to be the third wheel of that freakshow,” Rosalie finally spoke. Her voice sounded so angelic that I almost missed the meaning of her words. 

“Rosalie, don’t be rude,” Esme scolded at her. 

“No, it’s okay,” I said. “She’s right. Stop making me feel like a third wheel, you guys.”

“You gotta take care of your girl!” Emmett said. “Or there won’t be that threesome you have planned for 55 years!” 

He laughed hard at his own joke. My heartbeat picked up slightly at the implication, and Emmett must have noticed because he laughed even harder. Edward cleared his throat and crossed his arms uncomfortably. 

“Okay, it’s time,” Alice said, in an attempt to redirect her family’s attention. “If we don’t start playing soon, we’ll miss the thunder.” 

Right after she’d said it, the thunder struck above us once again. 

“I’m not playing, right?” I asked. 

“No, dear,” Esme smiled. “I’ll sit this one out with you.” 

“Actually, you can play,” Edward said. “I would be happy to stay with Bella.” 

“Hey, you’re our fastest runner!” Emmett said. “Not fair!” 

“Great, Edward and Bella will judge then,” Alice said and smiled like she had already seen this coming. 

The rest of the family spread out throughout the field, but Edward stayed by my side. Alice held a baseball in her hand, and Emmett held an aluminum bat in his. They were too far apart from each other. Edward watched them carefully. I looked up at him, studying his face. 

“I don’t know anything about baseball,” I told him. “Charlie, my dad I mean … he watches it all the time, but I don’t know any of the rules.”

“Don’t worry, you can leave the judging to me,” Edward said without taking his eyes off the field. 

I bit my lip and let my eyes wander past all the Cullens before setting on Alice. She looked so tiny out there, especially compared to Emmett. She caught me staring at her and I couldn’t help but smile when her eyes met mine. She waved at me and winked. Edward chuckled softly and suddenly I felt unsure if it had been me or him she had been waving at. 

Alice threw the baseball and it disappeared. Emmett swung the bat and thunder struck again. Except it wasn’t followed by lightning in the sky. He must have hit the ball, because Rosalie started to run into the forest. 

“Wow,” I mumbled. “Was that the ball?” 

Edward nodded. “Yes, that’s why we need the thunder.”

I looked up at him again. He avoided eye contact, still staring at the field. 

“What were you and Alice talking about?” I asked. “Telepathically, I mean.”

He chuckled, finally looking at me. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“You were talking about me, weren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me.”

Rosalie came out of the forest, running so fast I could barely see her. Emmett made it past the fourth base. 

“Ha!” Emmett yelled. “Homerun!” 

Rosalie threw the ball to the ground with a growl. The thunder struck again. Alice ran over to pick up the ball and Esme gave Rosalie a comforting hug before they continued. 

“You know about Alice’s ability,” Edward said and I nodded. “Do you know about mine?”

“You read minds.” 

When I said it out loud, it hit me. He could _read minds_. My face turned red as embarrassment washed over me. What had he heard? I tried to go over the things I had thoughts about since we met over an hour ago. I needed to get better at censoring my thoughts around him.

“You don’t have to worry,” he said. “I can’t hear you. That’s what Alice and I were talking about.”

“Why can’t you hear me? Can’t you hear everyone?”

“I have always been able to hear everyone. Everyone except you, apparently.”

“Is there something wrong with me?” 

Edward chuckled. “Bella, I just told you I can read other people’s minds. There is certainly nothing wrong with _you_.” 

He was about to say something else when he froze. He was standing unnaturally still, like a statue cut out of marble. The smile on his face had turned into a frown. His eyes were glued to Alice. She looked lost again, caught up in another time, another reality. Her lips moved and she said something, but she was too far away for me to hear what. 

She started running towards me, and the entire family followed her. They gathered around us. 

“I didn’t know,” Alice said. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see.”

“What happened, Alice?” Carlisle asked. 

Alice opened her mouth but no sounds came out. She took my hand in hers. I could feel that she had stopped breathing. 

“The nomads,” Edward replied in her place. “They were traveling faster than we expected. They heard us play and they changed direction.” 

“How soon?” Carlisle asked. 

“Five minutes,” Edward said. “They’re running.”

Carlisle looked at me and then back at Edward. Edward shook his head, stepping in front of me and Alice, hiding us behind his body. 

“Stand completely still and be quiet,” he turned around to instruct me. 

“I’m sorry, Bella,” Alice whispered in my ear. Her breath tickled my skin. “I’m _so_ sorry.” 


	7. Love Your Enemy

**Love Your Enemy: Bella**

A group of three walked out of the forest. They were moving in a triangle, with one man in front and the two others on the sides. One of them was a woman with fiery red hair. I could tell they were not human. Their pale skin, tired, red eyes, even the way they walked, gave them away. They were nothing like humans, and their contrast to the Cullens was striking. What could only be a true vampire nature was fully present within them. I looked at Alice’s family in the corners of my eyes, careful not to move my head. In comparison to their red eyed counterpart, they were not so different from my human self. 

It made me wonder how much of themselves they were actually hiding.

“We thought we heard a game,” the vampire leading the group said. “I’m Laurent, these are Victoria and James.”

Carlisle was standing in front of the family, showing his place as the group’s leader. He introduced us, gesturing vaguely in our direction as he said our names. The red eyes moved back and forth between our faces. I gripped Alice’s hand harder. Even though I could not see her face, I could feel how focused she was. She stood still, still not breathing. 

“What’s this?” the vampire who had introduced himself as Laurent asked. 

“They brought a snack,” the other male vampire said with a smile that almost looked devious. 

“She’s with us,” Carlisle said, showing the vampires his palm in an attempt to stop them. 

Alice’s grip around my hand tightened. The pressure from her stonelike hand was so strong that it felt like she would break it. 

“Alice,” I whispered and she let go of my hand. 

Then it all happened very quickly. 

Edward pushed me and I flew back, landing by the edge of the field. My head hit a large rock that I fell against. Emmett’s growl echoed against the trees. My head felt so heavy. I felt with my hand over the back of my head. My hair was covered in a sticky substance. 

Blood.

“Bella!” I heard Alice call my name. 

I felt something sharp against my wrist. Something sharp digging into my skin. I screamed as it cut into me. The sharpness was removed with force, but the pain didn’t stop. Someone picked me up and ran. I could feel the air hitting my face as we flew through the forest. The speed wasn’t human.

“Bella,” the person whispered. It was Edward.

The pain didn’t stop, it only grew more and more intense. I knew what had happened. The sharpness against my skin had been the sharpness of vampire teeth. One of the strangers had made an attempt to drink my blood. I remembered the image of Alice’s teeth against human skin that I had fantasized about at the restaurant in Port Angeles. It had seemed so sexy at the time. Velvety and soft and a bit kinky.

This was the complete opposite. It was sharp and cold and completely unbearable.

I screamed out loud. The sound of my voice echoed throughout the forest. 

☾ ☾ ☾

My body was burning. It felt like someone had poured gasoline over me and put me on fire. It spread from my left wrist where the vampire had bitten me and up my arm, following my veins throughout my body. I screamed, begging for it to stop. 

“Carlisle, do something!” Alice screamed. In the corner of my eye I could see her on the floor of the living room, curled up in herself with her hands covering her eyes. She looked so small. “I can’t stand it!” 

“So much for the girl you love,” Rosalie said. “She would have been better off dead.”

“Rosalie,” Carlisle warned. 

Rosalie was right. The fire burning on my skin and inside my body was unbearable. I would rather be dead. It would be a peaceful void. Like falling asleep. 

“Just … kill … me,” I managed to say. Then I started to scream again. The pain was uncontrollable.

“Do something!” Alice yelled at her adopted father. 

“I can give her morfin, I don’t think it’s too late yet,” he said calmly. He was probably used to it. He must see patients suffering in the hospital all the time. 

“You have no idea what you signed her up for,” Rosalie spit. “I bet you don’t even remember it.”

“Leave her alone, Rosalie.” It was Edward’s voice now. It was harsh, but stable. Nothing like Alice’s, who was at her breaking point. “She has never seen this happen before, let her be.” 

“Exactly my point,” Rosalie hissed at him. 

I felt Carlisle stick a needle into my skin, releasing the morfin into my bloodstream. The burning didn’t stop. I wanted to open my mouth and scream again, tell them it wasn’t working, tell them to kill me like Rosalie had suggested, but it wasn’t possible. My body was paralyzed. I was imprisoned in my own burning body. What Alice had told me about Edward’s soul came back to me. Was this hell? Was this my soul leaving my body?

“It seems to work,” Carlisle said. “She’s calming down.”

“Thank you,” Alice whispered in relief. 

“She may not be hurting now, but she will hurt later. You have taken everything from her, and for what? You don’t even want her, you piece of shit,” Rosalie said, directing her words at Edward. 

Rosalie’s words reminded me of my parents. What would happen to them now? Would I ever be able to meet them again, or would they believe they lost their teenage daughter to some accident while playing baseball with her high school friends? Who would take care of Renée if it didn’t work out with Phil? Who would take care of Charlie? He could barely cook a meal for himself. They  _ needed _ me.

I had never considered the consequences of entering into Alice’s life. I had never seen her or her family as a real danger, because they weren’t. But their world was. It had never occured to me the sacrifices I would have to make to be with her. 

“Rosalie,” Carlisle repeated, but was cut off by Edward. 

“You don’t know anything about my feelings for her,” he said. 

“Oh, I know you have been moping around for weeks because Alice was taken from you by a plain human.” 

“You are so self centered,” he said sharply. “You don’t know half of what you believe yourself to know. Trust me, I’ve seen it in your mind.”

Carlisle sighed heavily. “Edward …”

“And you’re the one to call me self centered? You’re such a hypocrite, Edward. You just took a girl’s life away for your own amusement,” Rosalie shot back. 

“What life were we taking away? There was no life to be saved! It was this or death!” 

I wanted to beg Rosalie to kill me. If I would have been able to speak, maybe she would have been merciful enough to end my suffering. Her harsh words didn’t hurt me. I felt the empathy radiating from her. She wanted to relieve me of the burning pain. 

“So why didn’t you let her die?” Rosalie said. “Why curse her to this life? You don’t even care for her!”

“But I do!” he yelled at her. “ _ Fuck _ .”

The room went silent for a minute. I heard them moving around. 

A small part of me, the only part of me not consumed entirely by the pain, considered his words. His confession. I was once again reminded what Alice had told me about his soul, and what I had told her.  _ You are his soul _ . Maybe a soul wasn’t necessary. Maybe this hell wasn’t cursed like Rosalie had claimed it to be. 

“Hey,” I heard Alice say. “Hey.”

“I hate it when you’re right,” Edward said. 

“When am I not, though,” she said. 

The small part of me that was still there leaned into the words, finding comfort in them. I had to trust Alice. I had to trust destiny. There was no turning back now. 

I could feel a hand in mine. It was too big to belong to Alice. Was it Edward’s? 

“It doesn’t matter what he feels,” Rosalie said. “You have no idea what you’re doing, Alice. Stop playing God.” 

“Rosalie,” Carlisle said for the third and final time. “It’s time for you to leave.”


	8. Biloxi

**Biloxi: Alice**

Edward put his hand on my upper arm and placed a kiss on the top of my head. I leaned into his chest and looked out over the room. Bella was laying on the bed with Esme by her side. During the past two days, we had taken turns sitting by her side. The morfin Carlisle had given her must have helped, because she remained silent. I took Edward’s free hand in mine. It felt like eternity since we’d been this peaceful together. 

_There will still be a lot of work,_ I thought. _With our relationship, and with her newborn phase. It won’t be easy._

“Alice-” Edward started.

_We’ll make it through, no problem._

“Alice, there’s something we need to-” 

Esme looked over at us with a worried expression on her face. 

_Please don’t start this again._

“It’s not- Esme, will you sit with Bella while we talk?”

“Of course, dear,” she said and brushed some hair out of Bella’s face. “She’s such a sweet girl. I’m grateful for her.”

“Me too,” he said.

I looked up at him. He had a smile on his face. I zoned out, searching for the missing piece. He didn’t want to talk about Bella, he finally seemed to understand. There must be something else. Something I’d missed.

It didn’t take long before I found it. He had me wrapped up in his arms, as if he was trying to protect me from his own words. 

“ _James knew you when you were human_ ,” he told me. 

I breathed out, calming a heart that didn’t beat. Knowing James in my human life could impossible be good news. 

“ _Do you want to know?_ ” he asked.

_Tell me_ , I decided. 

“ _He found you at an institution in Biloxi. Decided to hunt you. Another vampire got in his way and turned you before James had a chance to finish_.”

“It’s my fault,” I said aloud. “It’s all my fault.”

I came back from the vision and Edward’s arms weren’t wrapped around me anymore. I let go of his hand in mine and took a step towards Bella. Esme’s worried eyes were on me. My mind started to spin. I went through an old archive in Biloxi. Looked and looked until I found the right file. _Mary Alice Brandon_. 

Edward caught me, wrapping his arms around me. 

“It’s not your fault,” he said firmly. “James was a sadist.” 

“This wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t-”

Back at the archive. Old newspapers on microfiche. Born in 1901, same year as Edward. A little sister, Cynthia. An obituary for a Mrs Lillian Brandon. Heavy books with admission sheets from an asylum. My name on an admission paper not long after my mother’s death.

With one foot in the present and one in the future, I went through the archive with Edward’s arms wrapped around me. Changed my decisions until I found what I was looking for. 

“Is she alright?” I heard Emmett’s voice whisper through the foggy barrier. 

“Shh,” Edward said. “Don’t distract her.” 

Cynthia’s engagement, mentioned in the newspaper. An announcement for the birth of her daughter. I left the archives. Found my grave in the asylum’s long abandoned graveyard. The sight threw me back into the present. 

My eyes flickered, trying to adjust to the room. It had been long since a vision had brought me so far away, for so long. Emmett and Carlisle were in the room now, observing me. Esme was still sitting by Bella’s side, stroking her hair. Edward’s arms were still wrapped around me. 

“How do you feel?” Edward asked. 

“I had a sister,” I stated. 

Carlisle looked surprised. 

“Alice, what did you see?” he asked gently. 

“I saw … I went through the archive in Biloxi.” 

“Can I?” Edward asked, and continued after I gave him a silent approval. “James recognized Alice. He had hunted her before, like he was going to hunt Bella. He found her … he found her at an asylum in Biloxi in 1920. He was upset because another vampire turned her before he had the chance to kill her. She’s the only one who has ever escaped him, except Bella.” 

“That must be why you have no memories,” Carlisle said. “They used very controversial treatments back then, that’s why I refused to work at such institutions. Electroconvulsive therapy often ended with patients losing their memories.” 

The true meaning of Carlisle’s words made Esme gasp loudly. She got up from the chair by the bed and came towards me. Edward let go of me in order for her to take his place. My adoptive mother hugged me against her body and sobbed into my hair. 

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “If I had been there, I would have never … I will never let anything bad happen to you ever again.” 

I felt Carlisle’s comforting hand on my shoulder. Then, the three of us were forced into a sudden group hug by Emmett. 

“I’ll make sure of it,” he said a grin on his face. “I’m already looking forward to the next fight.” 

I heard Rosalie enter the room. The sharp heels of her shoes made a clicking noise when they hit the floor. She had stayed away since the fight with Edward two days ago. I knew she had been upset with me ever since the night I had told Bella our family secret. I understood why. She was scared of the risks I exposed our family to, and the consequences they could have. She was upset that I had been so convinced Bella was going to become one of us. That I was willing to turn a perfectly healthy human being with so much potential and _life_ ahead of her. And for what? My own selfishness? 

She was right. I hadn’t known it would come down to this, yet I had been willing to change Bella on Bella’s own request. The human experience the others constantly craved didn’t appeal to me. Apparently, it had been lost to me long ago, long before I was changed. Apparently, I hadn’t been human in a very long time. 

Emmett, Esme and Carlisle took a few steps back and revealed Rosalie in front of me. She looked over at Bella, and then back at me. 

“I’m sorry for what I said,” she said. “You deserve the world, Alice.” 

I smiled at her. “Thank you, Rose. I’m sorry too. I understand why you reacted. This is not what you would have chosen for yourself, and I respect that.” 

She opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by one of my visions of Bella opening her red eyes. 

“Bella is going to wake up soon!” I said and jolted Edward forward to her bedside. 

Any second now, our new life would begin. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this story. This idea came to me while reading Midnight Sun, and at first it was just spoof (hence the silly titel 'Bad Moon Rising'). I have really grown to love these alternative versions of Alice, Edward and Bella. It has been a lot of fun getting to explore how Alice and Edward would be different if they had found each other. Honestly, I think they are good for each other. It has also been interesting to play a bit with Bella's story, in an attempt to make her more real and more queer. 
> 
> I have also been working on some oneshots based on this universe. Two of them are ready to be published, so if that sounds interesting, keep an eye out!
> 
> Again, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. I'd love to hear what you thought in the comments.


End file.
